The Land Transport Department has meted out additional safety measures to be applied to school buses and vans after two school children accidentally fell from their school vans in Chiang Rai and Tak provinces within a week.

Luckily, the two victims were not seriously harmed but the incidents which went viral in the social media have generated a lot of comments and served a wake-up call for authorities concerned to take actions to prevent the incidents from recurring.

In Tak province where the second accident took place, the director of Tak primary education office, ordered all schools to check the conditions and safety standards of all school buses and vans.

Mr Apinob Bamrungkarn, the Tak land transport official, said that, from now on, all school buses and vans must be equipped with a fire extinguisher and an axe or a tool to be used to break the car’s windshield and other necessary safety equipments.

Also, he said that every vehicle must be registered with the school where students are picked up and there must be a supervisor for every vehicle.

The latest accident took place in Mae Sot district where a school girl, a Burmese migrant, was seen by a car’s camera falling onto the road from the rear of a van. The girl quickly stood up and gave chase to try to catch the car.